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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Effective partnership working
— a case study of hospital discharge | | Author(s) | Melanie Henwood |
| Journal title | Health & Social Care in the Community, vol 14, no 5, September 2006 |
| Pages | pp 400-407 |
| Source | www.blackwellpublishing.com/hsc |
| Keywords | Discharge [hospitals] ; Delayed discharge ; Health services ; Social Services Departments ; Interaction [welfare services]. |
| Annotation | The process of discharging patients from hospital provides a critical indicator of the state of partnership working between health and social care agencies. In many ways, hospital discharge can be seen to epitomise the challenges besetting partnership working. For patients who have care needs after discharge from hospital, how well health and social care partners are able to coordinate their policies and practice is critical. Where arrangements work well, patients should experience a seamless transition; where things go wrong, patients are all too often caught in the middle of contested debate between health and social care authorities over who is responsible for what. In 2002, growing concerns over numbers of mainly older people who were experiencing delays in being discharged from hospital led to the announcement of a system of 'cross-charging' targeting delayed discharges, the responsibility of social services departments (SSDs). The government's proposals were widely criticised and were the focus of much antagonism. The intervention of the Change Agent Team marked a turning point in the presentation of the policy and in supporting local implementation efforts. This paper examines partnership working between health and social care, by exploring the specific issues which this case study of hospital discharge provides. The analysis highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics of partnership working on the ground. It also underlines the need for a new relationship between central government and local agencies when old style models of command and control are no longer fit for purpose. A new approach is required that addresses the complex and multiple relationships which characterise the new partnership agenda. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-061114209 A |
| Classmark | LD:QKJ: LD:QKM: L: PF: QK6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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